Un libro maravilloso. Cómo dice el lector... se debe leer 2 veces para entender mejor los conceptos y las teorías. Es un libro que te lleva a indagar, ampliar la lectura y maravillarte por lo que hay más allá de lo visible. Siempre he sostenido que la noche y las estrellas tienen una magia extraordinaria que parte de la simpleza.

I have a Little, Brown & Co edition from 1993 in hardback. Very interesting but heavy going. Not one to give up, it took me ages to complete.

Una specie di autobiografia scientifica di Smoot, prima del Nobel ma dopo COBE. Interessante e ben scritta.

I really enjoyed this book. First, I have a story of how I found this book-I love these kinds of stories. We love the Big Bang Theory sit com on CBS. We find the writing exceptional, the characters endearing and the situations hysterical. I also love that they really work hard to make the science authentic by having a scientific consultant. They also have very impressive cameo appearances by well-know members of the scientific community. In one episode, our beloved characters are on a train on the way to a conference in Pasadena. On the train, Leonard is reading a book by George Smoot, the man they are going to the conference to see. The book is Wrinkles in Time. I'm intrigued by the book and the play on the title of the beloved Madeline L`Engle book.
I loved this book! I can't say that I completely understood it but I found it incredibly interesting and written for a layperson to understand. It really makes me want to read and understand more.

Very good science book, not too deep in the science, but he explains the important points very well. Interesting look at the search for "wrinkles" in the cosmic background radiation. Good mix of science and human adventure. I picked this to read after seeing George Smoot on the "Big Bang Theory" TV show. (He'll never be a good actor!)

Good book discussing the experimental aspects of cosmology. However, some text passages should have been updated in the latest edition (the SSC was cancelled in 1993!).

Loved the book. Clearly the title plays on Hawkings A Brief History but the subject matter is very different, dealing with the origins of space and time and the adventure that the author and his team embarked upon attempting to discover why the universe is not just comprised of dust. For the curious mind with a bent for science, a must read.

Wow! I don't know why I ever bother reading fiction! An absolutely breathless read. Wonderful!

POSTED BY ME AT AMAZON 2008
...I bought it in 1995. Since then I have cherished books about cosmology, especially chronicling the most important discoveries based on observation.
We have had currently three major important milestone developments, changing our perception of the space-time:
--In 1981 Alan Guth and Andre Linde introduced rapid, exponential, near zero time "inflation theory". It was crucial theory explaining why it is natural for the Universe to be expanding close to the critical rate today. Today inflationary model still prevails over other models among majority of cosmologists.
--Scientists were able to obtain a background measure at all in the Universe, using COBE satellite. In 1992 George Smoot announced existence of primordial seeds of modern-day structures such as galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and so on. Later these infrared readings were called "face of God".
--In 1998, acceleration of visible space expansion (that occurred about 6 billions year ago and still continues) was officially acknowledged as a breakthrough of the years. Robert Kirshner- supernova guru from Harvard, is one of the most important scientists studying this "acceleration" phenomena. Dark Energy component has been introduced.
George Smoot's work belongs to this category of essential "collector's item". Reader will learn first hand how COBE project has been planned, completed and its results confirmed by measurements of Milky Way's radio emissions taken at the South Pole. Book delivers substantial amount of basic information about Universe as well. As for today, it is a bit of outdated info because COBE project had been completed before we gained knowledge of acceleration and concept of dark energy. Still - author's writings about personal life, work and experience are definitely recommended and by all means worth of perusal.
Alan Guth's "Inflationary Universe" and Robert Kirshner's "Extravagant Universe" will be two other milestone books being written by directly involved scientists.

Spoiler Alert: COBE totally gives viable evidence of inflationary theory!

This book is an accounting of science as it ought to be done. George Smoot was the project head of the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite that in the early nineties mapped the radiation discovered by Penzias and Wilson in 1964. COBE's discovery of "Wrinkles" in this radiation gives a beautiful picture of what the universe must have looked like only 300,000 years after the Big Bang.

So yes, dramatic evidence of a cosmological theory is always interesting, you say, but you've read A Brief History of Time, and you don't really need to know anything more about inflationary theory.

This book is not about inflationary theory.

This book is about doing research. It is about designing a satellite to be launched by the space shuttle only to have the Challenger explode and shuttles put on indefinite hold. It is about working obsessively to make every carefully designed instrument half of its original size in order to fit it on a Delta rocket. This book is about traveling to Antarctica for a month in order to rule out every other possibility before publishing your extremely promising data. Therefore, I would argue that this book isn't just about finding extremely compelling scientific information; this book is about conducting reasonable, responsible, resplendent science.

I highly recommend it.

this is one of the first popular science books I read -- I think it was an xmas gift from big brother.

Taming the Cosmic Zoo:

Written primarily for the layman reader, "Wrinkles in Time" nevertheless attracted a lot of attention from the academic world as well. The authors, Nobel Laureate George Smoot and award-winning journalist Keay Davidson, chronicle a paradigm changing discovery in Cosmology; the texture of the early universe. Part personal memoir and part science-history, Smoot shares his thoughts and insights on the efforts to solve the cosmic mystery of the Big Bang and why the Universe is filled with planets, stars and galaxies. While this is not a cosmological text-book it does offer up some complex scientific concepts and gives an in depth journal of how scientists work with, and compete with, one another. Starting out in the heady days before the 20th Century, Smoot sheds light on some early workers in astronomy and their ground breaking discoveries. Anyone who has read Sagan's "Cosmos" or Tyson's "Origins" may find themselves in some familiar territory here but Smoot's covers it in a fresh way so that it doesn't come across as repetitive. How did people arrive at the concepts of an evolving, as opposed to a static, universe? Who were some of these early workers and how did society judge them? The book really takes off when it cover Smoot's efforts prior to his days on the COBE Mission. His work on the "Echo" projects and his flights on the U-2 aircraft were, for him, both fruitful and frustrating. Doing research with High-altitude balloons had him, and his colleagues, on the edge of their seats. His memories of where he was and what he was doing during the Challenger Disaster and other important moments in science add a personal touch to some historic moments. It's not enough just to make scientific discoveries, you must decide when and how to publish your findings. Too soon and you might overlook vital information or miss minor errors, too late and other teams might "scoop you" by reaching the same conclusions as yours. You and your whole team could end up as "also rans" with nothing to show for all your time and effort but a footnote on someone else's paper. Apparently scientific research is not for the faint of heart. Two years after launching the COBE Satellite Smoot found himself in Antarctica checking on his satellite's telemetry and verifying his theory. He and his team would work together in preparation for going public with his findings to the American Physical Society in 1992. Even with all his work there would still be some controversy about the Big Bang and his evidence for "Wrinkles" in the cosmic background radiation. But that's how science works and Smoot and Davidson cover it all in this wonderful book. If you'r at all interested in Cosmology and what it takes to make a paradigm changing theory then this book may be right up your alley. "Wrinkles in Time" is profusely illustrated with numerous charts, graphs and schematic drawings along with archival and personal photo's, B&W and color too. For me this was a very satisfying read and a close look at some historic moments in science.

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